


no, we're not "reimu and the youkai"

by magusnight



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Alternate Universe, Band Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 20:41:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18667993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magusnight/pseuds/magusnight
Summary: it's just a normal day for hakurei reimu; one of the guitarists for a currently unnamed band. her "friends" playing at her shrine, causing a ruckus, and her mom being generally annoying.





	no, we're not "reimu and the youkai"

“Reisen, your timing was off again.”

“Ah, sorry!”

With a sigh, Reimu dropped her right hand from the neck of her guitar; pick dangling from her other. “Why don’t we just take a break?” she suggested, glancing around. Her bandmates all seemed to perk up at Reimu’s words, enticed by the implication of snacks and drinks. Non-alcoholic, but only because she was planning on kicking them all out before it turned to acceptable drinking hours.

Before Reimu could even think to deny her companions liquor, Sakuya appeared in the doorway; pristine and perfect as always, a smile gracing her face as she delicately balanced a teapot and cups on a platter. No snacks in sight, but Reimu didn’t doubt that Sakuya didn’t come unprepared.

“Jasmine,” she spoke as she stepped towards the kotatsu, despite knowing well that the six of them could barely fit around it. “My boss has been rather fond of traditional sweets lately, so we had plenty of spare yōkan that she gave to me,” Sakuya continued as she distributed cups of tea to the already waiting Sanae and Marisa.

“Sweet,” Marisa replied, a lazy grin in her face. “Hahah, get it?”

She barely had time to put her cup of tea down before Reimu punched her arm. Despite the pain, Marisa only giggled.

Youmu, taking a seat beside Sanae, drew a cup towards themselves before glancing around the kotatsu. “We’ve been getting better over these last few months,” they commented with a small smile. Reimu only rolled her eyes in response, plunking down beside Marisa to snatch a piece of red beam yōkan that has suddenly appeared on the table.

“Yeah, well, we’re not good enough yet,” she sighed again, before munching on the sweet. “No one’s gonna listen to us if we don’t even have a band name,” Reimu continued, mouth full of yōkan, to the utter dismay of Reisen seated opposite her. Not that she cared; carefully watching Reisen pull her hood further down her face.

“We don’t even have any lyrics to our songs…” Reisen mumbled, reaching for a piece of yōkan. “And it must be hard with the drummers constantly switching… sorry about that.”

Marisa scoffed, and was grinning when Reimu turned her head to raise an eyebrow at her. “What’re you talkin’ about? You and Sakuya are both super good at drums, so it’s not like you’re causing us a bother or anything,” she declared in her normal nonchalant manner. Reimu was, in all honesty, glad she did; Reisen seemed to perk up at that.

There was a pause as everyone took a moment to enjoy the food and tea. Reimu allowed herself to consider a nap for a brief moment, before she was brought back to reality by Sanae’s gasp of delight. “Why don’t we write songs about folklore?” she suggested, a shine of passion in her eyes that made Reimu regret ever allowing the band to practice at her shrine.

“Folklore?” Sakuya echoed, a rare expression of surprise evident on her face. It soon reverted, Reimu noticed, as Marisa reached for her phone to snap a picture. “Are you suggesting we write lyrics for our songs based on already existing stories?”

Sensing the inevitable drop in Sanae’s mood, Reimu turned her raised eyebrow to the girl with the strange frog clip in her hair. “You’re talking about stuff like…” she paused, taking a moment to carefully choose her words. “... Urashima Taro and the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, right?”

Perking up, Sanae nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah! Stuff like that! It’s not really a common thing, is it? It’d be really unique!” she insisted, gripping her hands into fists excitedly. In all honesty, it was infectious; Youmu, Marisa, and Reisen all suddenly interested.

“It would be interesting,” Reisen commented, smiling warmly (yet somehow awkwardly, Reimu noticed) at Sanae. After a pause, the smile fell as she seemed to consider the idea more. “But how would we even sing about those in a new or unique way? Everyone knows those stories, even little kids.”

The conversation fell into silence once more. While Marisa shuffled awkwardly by her side, Reimu sipped her tea, pleased. All silence was pleasant, she mused with a sidelong glance at the instruments somehow squeezed into the room. While she had to admit that her shrine was perfect for practice, as it was usually quiet and far from everything else, Reimu didn’t enjoy her personal space being invaded so often.

“Anyways,” Youmu piped up after approximately a minute of silence passed. “When are you all available to practice again? I have work almost every afternoon except next Friday…”

“Nope, no can do,” Marisa groaned, chewing on her third piece of yōkan as she gently knocked her forehead against the kotatsu. “I’ve got a project due that night. Do you know what bullshit that illustrating program is? I hate it so much.”

Deciding not to question her lest she induce some rant about her design courses at university, Reimu turned her eyes to the other members of the band. No one seemed to be eager to suggest another time to practice, so she was left to sigh for a third time in an hour.

“I’ll just text you all when I’m free and you guys can decide when to come over from that,” she said listlessly, averting her eyes as all her bandmates turned their gazes to her. Even without looking, Reimu could tell from her gut feeling that they were all happy with the conclusion she’d come to.

“Well then,” Sakuya spoke with a smile, as hard to read as always. “Shall we continue? We could finally complete a song without any faults.”

Deciding that she had enough of waffling around, Reimu stood and wiped invisible crumbs off of her jeans. “Actually, I’m gonna need to kick you all out now. I’m not spending the night here.”

Despite the visible disappointment, none of her bandmates seemed to be particularly upset about the situation at hand. Besides Marisa, who immediately stood up, her skirt appearing to bounce with the sudden motion. “Aw, c’mon, Reimu! We can practice without you!” she complained with an obviously fake pout that quickly devolved into a grin the longer Reimu stared at her. “You spending the night with your mom? It’s been ages, can I come for dinner?”

“Yes— I mean no!” Reimu exclaimed, glaring at the blonde as she grinned widely at her. “Yes, I’m going to Yukari’s, but no, don’t you dare come for dinner. We’re having sukiyaki and I’m _not_ going to eat that with you ever again!”

Reimu was relieved that no one poked at the two of them to try and extract whatever underlying story prompted their fake argument. Though, Sanae kept beaming in her direction in a way that made her want to grab her cheeks and force her to stop.

“Fine, fine, we’ll get out. Youmu, help me with my aaaaaamp,” Marisa called out as she meandered over to said amp, tugging the out the cord connected to her bass, as Youmu’s face instantly became overcome by a suffering expression. Reimu felt slightly insulted; she was the one left with the dirty dishes. Logically, carrying a bass, amp, and a keyboard down long, winding steps was easier than taking care of herself.

Even after being adopted into the Yakumo “family”, Reimu didn’t think she’d ever get used to the stupidly huge Japanese-style mansion Yukari owned.

“I’m here,” she called out as she slid the door open, pausing only to pull her boots off. Without warning, Chen, in her almost normal looking cat form, immediately dashed into view and yowled at her for attention.

After a moment of staring at Chen, in which Reimu considered retaining her pride, she eventually gave in and reached over to pat her head. It was soft, to her dismay. “Who got your tails in a knot?” Reimu muttered as Chen meowed pleasantly, her two tails waving about cheekily.

Ran chose that moment to walk into the room, her tails displayed proudly out of sight of the public. “That’s where you went,” she sighed, regarding Chen with an expression of disappointment. Not that Chen seemed to care all too much. “Sorry about that, Reimu. I’m trying to get her to stop clawing up all of the couches while she thinks I’m not looking…” After a pause, Ran’s face lit up in realisation. “Oh, yes, Yukari-sama is in the main room.”

With a nod of acknowledgement, Reimu proceeded through the house, trying to remember which room was designated as the “main room” of the mansion.

Clearly, Yukari thought of her bedroom as the “main room”, as she was still in her pyjamas when Reimu stuck her head through the doorway. “Ah, Reimu,” she yawned, regarding her daughter with a smile that made Reimu want to leave immediately rather than stay for sukiyaki. Several small gaps were open around her; hands sticking out, combing, brushing, and doing up Yukari’s hair. “How’s your band going? What are you called, again…?”

“We don’t have a name,” Reimu replied, feeling her sense of unease growing as yet another gap opened; purely only for the hands that stuck out with a deep purple suit grasped in them. “What did you want me for? I’m keeping an eye on them, so—”

“I know,” Yukari interjected, her expression as frustratingly hard to read as ever. “And? Anything strange to report? No one’s causing any fuss?”

After taking a moment to think as she fiddled with her yin-yang orb earrings, Reimu responded with, “Nothing much. Sakuya brought yōkan with her today, though. Apparently Remilia’s getting into wagashi, but the yōkan she gave us didn’t taste like blood. So I think Sakuya just bought it for us.”

“Sakuya does have incredible culinary skills. Perhaps you just didn’t taste the copper and iron,” Yukari hummed, ignoring the way Reimu glared at her. “Nothing else? Surely you’ve noticed a disturbance in the forces lately.”

“Of course I have,” Reimu sighs, folding her arms. “I already keep an eye on them all through the band, and most of them go to the same university as me. What more do you want from me?” she asked, aware that she sounded as if she was complaining. She was, but she did know that it was important to track the movements of all the supernatural things in the city of Gensou-kyou.

To her annoyance, Yukari only giggled; standing from her position at dressing table and moving to change into her outfit behind her folding screen. The elaborate art of a sakura tree on it still fascinated Reimu. “Now, don’t be so upset,” Yukari assured her daughter, which only served to further agitate her. “I’m not asking you to do any more than you already are. Just be prepared to sort things out when the occasion arises.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m training, don’t worry,” Reimu replied. She had been lax in training with the yin-yang orbs, and she knew that Yukari knew that well. She didn’t seem bothered, though, so Reimu assumed she was off the hook. There was a long pause after she stopped speaking, and Reimu almost dismissed herself from the room until Yukari spoke again, mischief laced in with her voice.

“Why don’t you call your band “ _Reimu and the Youkai?_ ””

Almost choking on air, Reimu sputtered as she reached for an answer that didn’t make her look like a fool. “Do you want everyone to figure out what’s going on?! Besides, Reisen’s the only one that is a youkai! Youmu barely counts, Marisa’s a human, Sanae’s something, who fucking knows what Sakuya is—”

She was cut off by Yukari’s giggles as she emerged from behind the folding screen, her laughter muffled by her gloved hand but still loud enough to irk Reimu. “Well, lets go. I’m sure by now, Ran has started up the hot pot. Ah, the wonders of modern technology.”

Though she was thoroughly annoyed, Reimu could only sigh and follow Yukari out of her bedroom, through the winding halls of the Yakumo mansion. As they approached what Reimu could only describe as a uselessly large dining room (a surprisingly western addition to the typically traditional home), the smell of sukiyaki pervaded the halls.

Despite the promise of a delicious dinner, Reimu had a sinking feeling in her gut. It was always a bad sign, but she didn’t feel like anything was truly wrong. Not yet, at least. Hopefully that didn’t change in the next few days.

“How about calling your band “ _Phantasm_ ”?”

“Shut up, Yukari.”

**Author's Note:**

> so this is just an experiment i decided to do, since i haven't been writing much for a while. hopefully it's decent and people enjoy it.
> 
> if people are interested, i'll write more! but for now this is just a strange one-shot that sets out the basis of further fics. also i don't really know anything about music, besides my previous stint in piano and guitar. (i really wanna try bass.)
> 
> this also just contains liberal amounts of references to food i like, but i didn't note what they are... if anyone wants me to do so though, it'd be no problem!


End file.
